Part 5 (2/2)
Joy shook her head, thinking that was never going to happen. ”Please continue, Grand-Em. You were saying about the gazebo?”
Grand-Em nodded and started to talk again.
Moments later, Frankie jogged up to the car. She put the mail on the pa.s.senger seat in front and tossed over a little white paper bag that read Thomas Pills Rx.
”We're doing the gazebo story now?” she said, starting the car.
Joy nodded and thought maybe she'd ask Frankie for some advice. She sure could use some perspective.
Frankie threw the car in gear, did an illegal U-turn and bolted for home. ”Listen, if you can handle lunch service, I'm going to do the lawn and water the window boxes. We had a cancellation for next weekend which means we'll only have one couple. One. Can you believe it? G.o.d, we used to be packed.”
Or maybe she'd just keep to herself, Joy thought.
”Oh, hey, you'll never believe who I ran into.”
Grand-Em coughed loudly, aware that another conversation was interrupting her story. Frankie ignored the signal, so Joy turned and patted her grandmother's hand. The last thing they needed was for her to get hyper, which was what could happen when her narratives were cut off.
”It's okay,” Joy said gently. ”Keep going.”
Grand-Em smiled and started to talk again.
”Gray Bennett,” Frankie said.
Joy flipped her head around. ”What did you say?”
”Gray Bennett. I saw him in the post office. He's up for the weekend and said he was thinking about staying all summer.”
Joy's heart started kicking in her chest. ”Really? The whole summer?”
Grand-Em coughed again.
”Yeah.” Frankie darted out around a car and splashed back into the right lane as they went up Yellow-belly Hill.
Joy stared out the window, trying to tamp down on her excitement and losing the battle. ”Er-how did he look?”
”Oh, you know, Gray. He always looks good.”
Yes, she knew that. All too well. But she wanted to know everything. How long his hair was, was he wearing shorts, did he look happy?
G.o.d, did he have a ring on his finger?
She grimaced, thinking she would surely have read about it if he'd gotten married. The wedding of someone like him would make it into the papers.
”He asked about you, by the way.”
Joy froze. ”Really?”
Frankie nodded and then started saying something about the plumber.
As Joy looked out of the window, the sounds of her sister and her grandmother talking at the same time filled the inside of the car. Trapping her.
But when she began to think about Gray, she started to smile.
Chapter Five.
F rankie wiped her arm across her forehead, bent forward at a steeper angle and pushed the mower harder. The blades whirled and gra.s.s was kicked up in a green flurry until it covered her running shoes. If she went fast enough, she could probably finish the side- and lake-facing portions of the three-acre lawn by the afternoon.
”Frankie!”She lifted her head and saw Joy in a window.
”Phone! It's Mike Roy.”
Frankie stopped pus.h.i.+ng as her mind jumped to conclusions. Why was her banker calling her in the middle of a holiday weekend?
”Frankie?”
”Coming.”
Leaving the mower where it was, she was heading for the back door when Stu pulled up with his truck full of vegetables.
”I'll be with you in a minute,” she called out.
He nodded, lit up a cigarette and seemed perfectly happy to wait.
As she steamed through the kitchen, Nate looked up from the stove. ”The vegetables here?”
She nodded. ”I'll be out in a-”
”Great,” he said, heading for the door.
Frankie paused, wanting to reel him back in. As a homeowner indebted up to her eyeb.a.l.l.s, however, her banker took precedence.
In her office, she straightened her clothes before picking up the receiver, telling herself Mike Roy wouldn't be able to hear the fact that she was sweaty and disheveled. She grabbed the phone and imagined him telling her he was foreclosing on the mortgage. And selling White Caps to a real estate developer who was going to run two hundred condos with hot tubs up the mountain.
”Hi, Mike,” she said. ”What's up?”
Have you turned into a shark after five years of being a lamb?
”I was wondering if I can bring someone by to visit White Caps. He's in town over the weekend and I'm showing him around. I can't very well leave out the place where Lincoln slept.”
She let out her breath with relief. ”Of course, bring him over anytime. We have a guest in Abe's room but I'll ask whether he'd mind if you put your head in.”
”Great.”
There was a pause. Her stomach clenched. ”Listen, Mike, about the mortgage payments. I'd like to come in and show you my plan for covering what I owe.”
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